Decision details

That the Cabinet Member approves:

a)  Traffic Regulation Order – A619 Baslow Road/Chatsworth Road, Chesterfield, 30mph Speed Limit Order 2022.

b)  Traffic Regulation Order – A619 Baslow Road/Chatsworth Road, Chesterfield) Mandatory Cycle Lanes Order 2022.

c)  Traffic Regulation Order – Crow Lane, Chesterfield (Prohibition of Motor and Horse Drawn Vehicles) (Except Two Wheeled Motorcycles) Order 2022.

Commitment to the detailed design and subsequent construction of the scheme was already given by Cabinet in October 2021.

A further consultation exercise was undertaken for these TROs with a majority still in support of the proposals.

Grant funding has been received by the Department for Transport with some of this already spent on the design process along with monitoring equipment already installed. Construction is beginning shortly on other sections of the scheme.

Funding could potentially be clawed back by the Department for Transport / Active Travel England if these sections do not proceed, as they were the “bold” parts of the package which helped gain the grant funding.

There is a risk of future active travel funding application outcomes being negatively impacted, should the overall scheme not be delivered in-line with the original proposals as per the grant funding.

Alternatives considered for Crow Lane are as follows:

          Making Crow Lane One Way (into Town)

Whilst simplifying the dangers to pedestrians and cyclists with only one direction of vehicle traffic to contend with, this does not address the issue of the lack of road space for multiple users and would require pedestrians or cyclists to continue to stop and move out of the way onto a grass verge while a vehicle passes.

          Widen the route to allow for a cycle lane

This would require considerable extra cost to construct over the road space re-allocation of the existing proposal which is mostly a lining and signing exercise. Any construction would likely be within the tree root protection zone of all the trees lining the road and would require removal of trees to implement. Additionally, the highway boundary does not give sufficient space to create the amenity within it so would require landowner permissions or use of compulsory purchase powers at an even larger cost.

          Use alternative routes for the cycle track – Dark Lane / Golf Course route / Hady Hill etc

The gradient on the alternative routes are worse than Crow Lane. They are also significantly longer routes and the Council wishes for people to view the route as the most direct and choose to make that change to their mode of travel. A slightly longer route for a car user is not as off-putting as it is to a walker or cyclist.

          Do nothing

          Crow Lane has been identified in the early stages of the project as a candidate for a walking and cycling route due to the links it provides between the station and Chesterfield Royal Hospital. The emergency closure during the Covid pandemic saw a large increase in use by walkers and cyclists. Without closure there is insufficient space to create a facility whereby users other than vehicles can travel safely along the lane due to the limited road width available.

          Reduce speed limit to 30mph / 20mph – Introduce Speed Humps and discourage HGVs

          Crow Lane is so narrow and in places overgrown that speed surveys show that the majority of vehicles do not travel with excessive speeds, see the below table:

          Average Speeds on Crow Lane         

          With such low average speeds the introduction of lower speed limits is not seen as a requirement, those that choose to travel faster would likely do so anyway and enforcement would be difficult to implement in this area.

          Installation of speed humps would increase the potential for loss of control incidents on a hill for vehicles and cyclists alike so this would be undesirable on a safety front.

          Additional signs to discourage HGVs using the route is a possibility, however, very few HGVs use the route due to the single lane nature with limited passing places – analysing vehicle data from September and October 2022; 0.25% of vehicles using the route were HGVs.

          With any combination or all of the interventions above it would still be impossible to create a safe walking and cycling route alongside vehicles due to the limited road space available.

Alternatives considered for Chatsworth Road Mandatory Cycle Lane are as follows:

          Do nothing

Chatsworth Road has been identified in the early stages of the project as a candidate for a segregated cycle path. Full segregation from pedestrians and vehicles gives cyclists better progression and hence shorter journey times, be that for leisure or commuting and makes the facility more attractive to users.  The Covid pandemic saw a large increase in walkers and cyclists and Derbyshire County Council wish to enable these users to have a safe route to use that is not on the highway and not in conflict with each other where space is available; Chatsworth Road presented the only viable section of the route to achieve this on.

          Creating a Somersall Lane – Greendale Avenue rural route.

This has already been looked at by the Council as a project. Extensive work was undertaken getting it to the point of legal negotiations between landowners. Some were willing to sign the creation orders which would limit the Council’s liability in the event of damage from farm machinery, others were not. This is not a liability the Council can take on as an unlimited maintenance budget from the public purse would not be economical. The project stalled at the legal impasse and has since been closed with funding reallocated.

Creation of a route to the north of Chatsworth Road across fields.

Much of this land is outside of the ownership of DCC and as such would require landowner agreement, leading to potentially the same issues as the above suggestion.

All other feedback was comment only rather than suggestion and a collated summary selection is shown below;

Conduct a scheme trial before deciding on a permanent facility.

The scheme uses some items which could well be temporary in nature / could be easily removed or changed cheaply, namely; screw down rubber bollards with wands, overlaid contrast surfacing and road marking adjustments.

The aspects of the scheme which are more permanent / expensive is the removal of the existing central refuges and the roadside signage. These items would need to be introduced for a trial to replicate the full scheme. Signage is also something which could be temporary, however, having temporary signs in place for a long period can actually cost more than a permanent install as they are hired equipment and may need maintenance if they blow over or are vandalised.

          Create uni-directional cycleways on each side of the road.

The costs of a uni-directional cycleway are significantly more than that of a two-way cycle way. It would also lead to conflict between more than double the number of house frontages and busier side roads such as Somersall Lane and Queen Mary Road on the southern side.

Bring cyclists out at Queen Mary Road and not Linden Avenue.

To safely cross cyclists across Chatsworth Road traffic signal control is required. Installing another set of traffic lights here in close proximity to the existing set at Storrs Road / Linden Avenue would create increased levels of congestion far above that of the proposal.

Alternatives considered for Chatsworth Road 30mph Extension are as follows:

          A minority of people (178 from 1240) were against this proposal for many reasons, however, there were no realistic and few publishable suggested alternatives.

          Do nothing

In creating a cycle facility within the highway boundary, the road space has to be reallocated. Vehicles will be passing closer to one another and while cyclists may be further away than when they shared the carriageway, there may be greater numbers with more varied abilities and confidence; those less confident are more likely to use the facility if the environment for them to do so in is more comfortable. This can be achieved by lowering the speeds at which vehicles pass. The feel of the road space will also change significantly with the proposed infrastructure and would lend itself to a more urban feel where a lower speed limit would be more appropriate.

          One suggestion for example was to limit cycle users instead of motorist users

Obviously DCC do not in this instance wish to limit either cyclist or motorists, merely to lower the speed and thereby increase the safety of all road users. Cyclists are allowed to ride on all roads but motorways / clearways in the UK and Chatsworth Road has neither designation